Jennifer: The following may be of interest. Tom Sticht

Free Workshop on Listening & Reading Processes of Adults

Presented by Tom Sticht, International Consultant in Adult Education

Recently there has been a growing interest in listening research and
instruction with native English speaking adult literacy learners in various
industrialized nations. For this reason adult literacy providers may be
interested in my workshop that I first presented in 1999. I have recently
(2006) participated in seminars in London, England on listening, speaking,
and reading processes and instruction with adult learners and have
incorporated new research into my workshop.

The Workshop on Listening & Reading Processes of Adults addresses aspects of
the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, Title II: The Adult Education and
Family Literacy Act that focus attention on relationships among listening
and reading abilities of adults. In particular, this includes  information
about phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary  and comprehension
in reading and how this builds on and adds to adult's listening skills. The
questions, methods and findings of four decades of research on adult's
listening and reading skills will be summarized. The workshop emphasizes
the role of adults' listening and speaking skills in family and workplace
literacy contexts.

Listening has been identified as a critical work-related skill but it has
been almost totally ignored in national assessments of adult literacy. 2008
is the 100th anniversary of E. B. Huey's 1908 classic book, "The Psychology
and Pedagogy of Reading" in which he stated that, "The child comes to his
first reader with his habits of spoken language fairly well formed, and
these habits grow more deeply set with every year. His meanings inhere in
this spoken language and belong but secondarily to the printed symbols...."
. This workshop presents extensive research and data from the United States
and United Kingdom on the oracy (speaking and listening)  skills of adults
and how these skills relate to workforce development and the
intergenerational transfer of language and literacy skills from parents to
their children.

Goals. The goals of the Workshop on Listening  & Reading Processes of Adults
are (1) to summarize four decades of  R & D on adults' listening and reading
skills; (2) to present information on writing  as a second signaling system
for  speech and how that involves phonemic awareness and phonics training
in bridging from listening to reading for information and for learning, (3)
to illustrate techniques for training listening skills for learning by
listening and to improve reading fluency and comprehension, and (4) to
illustrate how listening and literacy practices can be assessed using
various methods including the use of the telephone to provide assessments
of the need for listening and literacy education among the local  adult
population.

Outcomes. Following the workshop, participants will be able to (1) discuss
 the R & D on listening and reading using specific references to the R &  D
literature and use this information in their planning for adult literacy
education, (2) incorporate information about the place and manner of
articulation and other types of information relating listening and reading
processes of adults into their planning for program development that helps
adults bridge from oral to written language skills, (3) use this
information in planning for the development of teaching and learning
activities for both native language speakers and for English as an
additional language for non-native English speakers, and (4) apply the
information to the design and conduct of local needs assessments for adult
literacy education including the assessment of adults' knowledge and
literacy practices  by listening in telephone interviews.

I charge no fee for the workshop, but sponsors must pay travel expenses and
make all arrangements for the events. Contact me at tsticht at aznet.net if
you want to arrange for a workshop (or other presentation) in your area.

My present schedule for speeches and workshops includes:

June 20, Socorro, NM
August 6, Winston-Salem, NC
September 9, Hartford, CT (tentative)
September 11, Greensboro, NC (tentative)
October 14, Crystal Lake, IL
October 22, San Diego, CA